50% is always easier to get past than 60%. That being the case, major legislation is always easier to pass first in the House rather than the Senate, particularly when one party overwhelmingly controls all the levers of power. This rule of Congressional behavior is neither new nor hard to understand. That is also why the left wing of the Democratic Party is clamoring for aggressive action on progressive bills in the House, even if some of the bills die in the Senate, since some Blue Dogs seem already destined to be defeated in 2010, which will leave the Democrats with an enfeebled majority in the House in the next Congress.

The House agenda for early 2010 points to difficulties for immigration reform advocates. According to a report in Politico, the following bills will be taken up immediately upon conclusion of the Health Care debate: the President’s 2011 budget, a debt ceiling increase, and a jobs bill. In addition, the Senate has financial reform on its plate and possibly also climate change legislation. The winter legislative calendar is more than full, and this is even without taking into account the unforeseeable, like Iran or North Korea or Russia, changing the entire legislative landscape.

The Democratic leadership has made vague promises about taking up an immigration bill in the Senate in late winter, but in light of the full calendar described above, it is an open question as to whether the words will eventually be backed up with action. Unless a markup schedule is announced by Sen. Schumer and Rep. Lofgren, it is fair to wonder whether the Democratic leadership is once again leading immigrants down a path to nowhere.

A report today from The Hill today says "The Speaker recently assured her freshman lawmakers and other vulnerable members of her caucus that a vote on immigration reform is not looming despite a renewed push from the White House and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The House will not move on the issue until the upper chamber passes a bill, Pelosi told the members." It appears that the grinches are out in force during this holiday season; even kind words are not on the menu for immigrants. Despite such official disapproval from the House Democratic leadership, Rep. Gutierrez’s CIR ASAP bill already has 91 co-sponsors as of this writing. Perhaps drastic action will become necessary after the State of the Union speech – maybe a CIR bill can be attached to the next “must pass” bill comes to the floor. It is true that House rules make such votes extra-ordinarily difficult to ensure, but several sponsors of CIR ASAP sit on the House Rules committee, and immigrants can only hope that they will use their influence to ensure that the leadership does not ignore immigration, even if it costs a few Blue Dogs their seats.

The ultimate cure to these ills appears to lie at the local level. If immigrants, including the undocumented, can legally vote in local elections, as is lawfully possible in a few places in the country, the politicians will not be able to get away with this wholesale dismissal of immigrants' concerns. Perhaps the energy behind CIR ASAP can also be constructively used to make the state-level, county-level, and township-level changes necessary to ensure that future legislators remain more responsive to the concerns of their constituents – whether documented or not.

But there is still hope, perhaps the Democratic leadership will prove that there is a Santa after all; there are still many days to go before Christmas!

We welcome readers to share their opinion and ideas with us by writing to editor@ilw.com.

Wednesday, December 16th is the deadline for the Thursday, December 17th phone session of "Investors For Experts" with speakers Lincoln Stone, David Andersson, Elsie Arias, Ed Carroll, Mark Ivener, Robert F. Kruszka, David Morris, Susan Pilcher and Other Speakers To Be Announced. This is an advanced session by expert EB5 immigration attorneys. This session brings the added feature of EB5 experts who are owner/operators of USCIS designated regional centers. Hear their unique perspectives on how to manage the complexities of this fast-evolving area of practice. The curriculum is as follows:

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Dear Editor:
Religions should be out not only in this immigration debate but also from out politics, educational institutions and public spaces. The biggest problem in this immigration debate so far that many use the Bible verses both in backward and barbaric Mosaic Laws or the Laws of "grace" by Jesus whenever they fit and convenient to justify certain flawed and self serving positions on immigration and many other issues. It's hypocritical and double standard. Peter's letter (12/15/09 ID) asked about enough with "amnesties" and now how to prevent future illegal immigration then ? Easy. Make it legal then period, just like the good old days, when mankind traded freely with barter of goods and services and real gold and silver as real universal medium of exchange, not with almost become newspaper or soon green "toilet" inflated paper currency printed by Federal Reserve. When Patriarch Abraham could go to Egypt as a trader or refugee without fuss of "show me the paper " attitude from Pharaoh "immigration law enforcement" agency. When Japan gets hit by massive earthquake in the future they can move to California or Russia just like New Orleaners evacuees move to Houston or other cities when hurricane Katrina devastated their city. When freedom of movement is guaranteed and protected it's call relocation or moving and nobody should fuss about it at all.

Robert Yang

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